affection

af·fec·tion | \ ə-ˈfek-shən

Definition of affection

1 : a feeling of liking and caring for someone or something : tender attachment : fondness She had a deep affection for her parents.

2 : a moderate feeling or emotion

3a(1) : a bodily condition

(2) : disease, malady a pulmonary affection

b : attribute shape and weight are affections of bodies

4 obsolete : partiality, prejudice

5 : the feeling aspect (as in pleasure) of consciousness

6a : propensity, disposition

b archaic : affectation sense 1

7 : the action of affecting : the state of being affected

8 : umlaut sense 2 —used especially in the grammar of the Celtic languages

Other Words from affection Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym Affectation and Affection More Example Sentences Learn More about affection

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Choose the Right Synonym for affection

feeling, emotion, affection, sentiment, passion mean a subjective response to a person, thing, or situation. feeling denotes any partly mental, partly physical response marked by pleasure, pain, attraction, or repulsion; it may suggest the mere existence of a response but imply nothing about the nature or intensity of it. the feelings that once moved me are gone emotion carries a strong implication of excitement or agitation but, like feeling, encompasses both positive and negative responses. the drama portrays the emotions of adolescence affection applies to feelings that are also inclinations or likings. a memoir of childhood filled with affection for her family sentiment often implies an emotion inspired by an idea. her feminist sentiments are well known passion suggests a very powerful or controlling emotion. revenge became his ruling passion

Affectation and Affection

Affectation looks a lot like a much more common word, affection. But the two are used very differently.

The more familiar word, affection, in modern use means "a feeling of liking and caring for someone or something," as in "They show their dog a lot of affection."

Affectation, on the other hand, refers to a form of behavior that's unnatural to the person engaging in it, and that is meant to impress other people. A phony accent someone uses to sound more sophisticated, for example, can be considered an affectation, as can pretending to know all about some obscure band in order to seem cool.

The words don't have much in common in their use, but their similarity in appearance is not coincidence. Both have to do with one of the trickiest words in the language: affect.

Affect is one of the most frequently looked-up words in the dictionary, primarily because of its regular confusion with effect. The short rationale that you often hear when it comes to distinguishing the two is that effect is usually a noun and affect is a verb. The breakdown isn't all that simple, however, and what makes things even more confusing is that there are two verb entries for affect.

One affect entry is for the sense meaning "to produce an effect upon (someone)" or "to act upon (a person, a person's mind or feelings, etc.) so as to effect a response." This is the sense that connects to affection, as in "We were affected by the young woman's heartfelt speech." Being affected by something in this way doesn't necessarily result in affection, but it can.

The other verb affect is defined as "to make a display of liking or using : cultivate" or "to put a pretense on : feign." It is used when talking about things like styles or mannerisms, as in "He affected a British accent and tweedy look after reading nothing but Sherlock Holmes stories for months on end."

The two verbs affect took different etymological paths from the same origin. The "put on a pretense" sense of affect derives via Middle English and Anglo-French from the Latin affectāre, meaning "to try to accomplish, strive after, pretend to have." Affectāre is a derivative of afficere, which means "to produce an effect on, exert an influence on"; the affect related to affection is from a variant of afficere.

Examples of affection in a Sentence

She has deep affection for her parents. He shows great affection for his grandchildren. feelings of love and affection He now looks back on those years with great affection. She developed a deep affection for that country and its people.

Recent Examples on the Web Harding — who saidTyson was an independent dog who did not seek physical affection — was very helpful to the department. — Cathy Kozlowicz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Menomonee Falls award-winning police dog, Tyson, retires," 19 Feb. 2020 Perhaps never before has Valentine's Day brought one person more affection. — John Blackstone, CBS News, "104-year-old Marine surprised with thousands of Valentine's Day cards," 13 Feb. 2020 And with the Challenger SRT Redeye Widebody, Dodge has tapped into the country's latent muscle-car affection. — Daniel Pund, Car and Driver, "Mustang Shelby GT500 vs. Camaro ZL1 1LE vs. Challenger Hellcat Redeye," 12 Feb. 2020 More recently, Princeton University evolutionary biologist Bridgett vonHoldt discovered what might be the root of this affection. — Popular Science, "Did humans truly domesticate dogs? Canine history is more of a mystery than you think.," 10 Feb. 2020 If the monkey obliges, the trainer showers it with praise and affection. — National Geographic, "Circus-like performances by snow monkeys in Japan contradict their long-revered status," 8 Feb. 2020 Judging by positive feedback given by about half of the participants, the authors said affection for a plant of one's own may have played a role in reducing stress. — Kristen Rogers, CNN, "Keeping a plant on your desk can reduce workplace stress, study says," 7 Feb. 2020 The investigation detailed lewd remarks and inappropriate gestures of affection by Shooter, ultimately leading to his expulsion in a highly unusual vote by the House. — Andrew Oxford, azcentral, "Arizona lawmakers call for investigation of Michelle Ugenti-Rita after lobbyist's claims," 6 Feb. 2020 In 2020, the English-language debut of Costa Rican writer-director Hernán Jiménez doesn’t appear as fresh, but solid performances from its good cast and an affection for its characters gives it more mileage. — Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘Elsewhere’ has indie spirit but lacks precision," 23 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'affection.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.